Jeffrey Lurie: I love LeSean McCoy, but I had to let Chip build his team

Posted by Michael David Smith on March 25, 2015, 3:02 PM EST

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Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie is conflicted about seeing a great player like LeSean McCoy leave Philadelphia. But Lurie says he’s not conflicted at all about his belief that Chip Kelly is the man to build the Eagles.

Asked about the McCoy trade at the league meeting, Lurie said it was all about trusting in Kelly to do the job he was hired to do.

“LeSean McCoy is a great running back – all-time franchise leader,” Lurie said, via Philly.com. “Great guy in every way. To maximize [Kelly’s] power spread offense, he’s always admired the one-cut runners. That’s what he admired. You’ve got to let a coach try to bring in the players that fit best what he’s all about to maximize what he’s trying to accomplish.”

But as much as Lurie trusts Kelly, he admits that it’s hard to say goodbye to players he likes.

“The sad part is you’re dealing with people’s lives,” Lurie said. “For me, I take it really seriously. It’s not easy to talk to Nick Foles for a long time after the trade, or LeSean, Trent Cole, guys that have devoted their lives to us, and are wonderful people.”

Now the Eagles will need to win in 2015, so that Kelly can show his boss that getting rid of all those players was the right move.

Jeff…..try and remember it’s YOUR team and you owe it to the Philadelphia Eagle fan base to bring home a Super Bowl trophy. If this is what it takes, so be it. But you’ll be as much as fault as Chip if this craziness does’nt work out.

The more Chump Kelly opens his mouth, the more obvious it is that he’s going to crash and burn in the NFL. Running the real player personnel people, like Tom Gamble, out of the building was a really bad idea. It’s clear Chump has no idea what he’s doing. At least it’s entertaining to watch.

3, 2, 1 that’s doesn’t even make sense.
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Do try and keep up. The Jets claim Kraft tampered when he explained why the Pats didn’t keep Revis. Now Laurie is doing the same with McCoy. Good god, crawl out of the cave once in awhile.

Lurie owns it. He can do as he wishes. I wish the Eagles organization well. But getting to the SB means they have to get past Seattle. Tough sledding there. Northwest analogy…we’re on another planet, otherwise you’d get it.

I think mancave001 is a diehard Jets Fan. Kraft mention how he was reluctant to see Revis go….. And the Jets Cried Tampering. Laurie’s comments are the same, he laments McCoy leaving also. Another clear case of tampering. However, wishing for a Player soon to be a Free Agent is not. Me thinks there is something in that water they pipe into NEw Jersey. It’s the New Jersey Jets and New Jersey Giants. For Pete sakes, they play in Jersey!

BTW…. Rex was shocked that the Bills were very happy to pick up McCoy’s salary…. Oh wait, he is the coach of the Bills.

Now with the Eagles out of the way in second place this leaves an easy win for the Redskins in this division with all the high character players and moves that have been made. This team is all about winning and focused on building a championship dynasty like never seen before.

“I had to let Chip build his own team” and on top of that I was in Arizona deciding if we should move the extra point to the one yard line…I will leave my billion dollar investment to Kelly so I can change important stuff…

Coming into the NFL Chip Kelly was asked about what he looked for most in a quarterback. Everyone expected him to say mobility or athleticism. Instead he said that he was looking for a quarterback that didn’t turn the ball over. After his magical first season taking over for Vick, Foles was that guy. Once tape of his playing style became more available and defenses were able to study his tendencies, Foles started throwing more and more picks before eventually being hurt. Come the off season, Foles is unshockingly gone.

Chip Kelly runs a system where he requires his running back to make a decisive one cut and get up field. He spreads out the defense to open up areas of the field and uses his lineman in space. McCoy proved last year that he was not going to be decisive, and made too many moves in the backfield. This was apparent when he went from being the top rusher in the league to being less productive than Sproles. This off season, McCoy is gone.

Say what you will, but Kelly isn’t making moves randomly. If anything, his biggest failing is relying too much on finding players to fit his system instead of adapting his system to fit his players.

Kelly is bringing fans out of the woodwork. You don’t see many Eagles t-shirts on a resort island in South Georgia, but today two guys approached me at the gym who wanted to talk about Kelly’s moves. One was actually at the game in 1960. All I can claim is vaguely being aware of it when I was 8. Give Kelly credit for creating an interesting off season.

When all is said and done, it was Andy Reid, Marty Mornhinweg and those beautiful screen passes and deep-ball passes from Donovan McNabb that won the Eagles their most-recent Super Bowl — well, okay, the Patriots bested them by a field goal. Coulda-woulda-shoulda…

The people putting down Chip Kelly will be eating a ton of crow. The man has not gotten rid of any piece that didn’t need to go, except Maclin who was not worth the money K.C. Paid. I hope McCoy does a good job for Buffalo but I think the Bills had RBs as good as him you have to understand Shady was pretty mediocre until the last 2 years. 2yrs in Kelly’s offense.

Jeff is a nice person, compassionate owner living amongst liars and thieves and that more then anything has kept the Eagles from winning a Super Bowl. Chip Kelly is a non nonsense SOB cut from the same cloth as Belichick, Parcells, and Lombardi. You do it one way, his way and he doesn’t care what the fans, media, or even the owner thinks. And that’s why he will bring multiple Superbowls to Philly.

The Chip haters need to chill until he gets a final product on the field and we see what happens. I don’t agree with all of the moves he has made but the guy took a 4-12 team and won 10 games back to back with basically no quarterback (Foles was lucky in 2013 as was proven in 2014) and a horrible secondary.

If this thing fails, he’ll be fired and you can hate but until they start playing games, NOBODY knows if what he is trying to do will work. People love to kill stuff before it even begins….it’s pretty sad actually.

The Chip haters need to chill until he gets a final product on the field and we see what happens. I don’t agree with all of the moves he has made but the guy took a 4-12 team and won 10 games back to back with basically no quarterback (Foles was lucky in 2013 as was proven in 2014) and a horrible secondary.

If this thing fails, he’ll be fired and you can hate but until they start playing games, NOBODY knows if what he is trying to do will work. People love to kill stuff before it even begins….it’s pretty sad actually.

PS- McCoy is on the downside and will never lead the league in rushing again. He’ll be a solid pass catching back for the Bills for a year or two but Ryan got fleeced in that deal by giving up a young, potential All Pro LB AND eating all of McCoy’s salary.

bondsncruz says:
Mar 25, 2015 3:11 PM
The more Chump Kelly opens his mouth, the more obvious it is that he’s going to crash and burn in the NFL. Running the real player personnel people, like Tom Gamble, out of the building was a really bad idea. It’s clear Chump has no idea what he’s doing. At least it’s entertaining to watch.

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The more you type, the more obvious it is that you ahve no clue what you are talking about. Howie Roseman running Tom Gamble out of town is the reason why Chip wanted him out of the personal role. If Howie hadn’t fired Gamble, he’d still be the GM

Not hard to figure out, Howie fires Gamble on 12/31, that same day Lurie laughs off questions about Howie’s job security. 72 hours later, Chip is in charge of players, and Howie gets a raise and a demotion

I find it interesting that people are really cutting apart Chip Kelly when he hasn’t had an 8-8 or losing season yet with his time as HC and not having the players he wants…

Only Denver, Indy, Cinci, New England, Seattle or Az can say they have had back to back double digit winning seasons.

Which means there are 25 other teams in the league that have not achieved what Chip Kelly has in his first two years. And that’s with people he has not selected… Next year should be interesting to say the least.

3. Shady will totally dislike Buffalo. He is a city boy.
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Last I checked, Buffalo is a city. A pretty decent sized one too in fact. Comparable to Pitt where he went to college. Much, much larger and more urbanized than his hometown of Harrisburg.

BTW…. Rex was shocked that the Bills were very happy to pick up McCoy’s salary…. Oh wait, he is the coach of the Bills
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You’re shocked the Bills were willing to sign McCoy to a contract worth 16 million for 2015, but with only a 2.75 million cap hit? How and why are you “shocked”? 2.75 cap hit on a 16 million dollar salary is brilliant negotiating on the part of the Bills.

Much more fun to make fun of the Bills on false pretenses, though, I suppose.

MeShawn Jackson did what for the Redskins? Helped them to one of the worst records in football and saw an inferior player coming off a major injury match his numbers from the last year. I still think the Eagles should have gotten something for Jackson but I have no issue with him being gone. Guys like him only care about their fantasy stats. You don’t win championships with those kinds of players. McCoy wasn’t as selfish as Jackson but he was way overpaid and saw a pretty big drop in production so again I don’t think losing him will hurt, especially considering they brought in Murray and Mathews to replace him.

That said, I am hoping Chip has someone in mind to bring at WR as they are pretty thin at the position right now.

I’m under the impression that these guys do know more than us. I mean, we are just internet trolls. However, in all honesty, how about we wait and see until we criticize.

As a Bengals fan, I thought it was ridiculous that we signed Adam Jones a couple years back. In hindsight I can say it was a good move.

McCoy was being phased out of that offense and who know if he will work out in Buffalo. I think he will, but that it just a thought. No evidence to support it because it hasn’t happened yet.

In terms of Bradford, I will admit, that seems shaky, but Kelly has some kind of a plan, and he has not given us reason to believe he is going to fail. When was the last time Kelly had an absolute flop of a year at any level?

The only reason why Howie Roseman is still with the Eagles is because he knows that within a year (or two at the most) Chip Kelly will be back coaching college football and Lurie will turn to Roseman to be GM again (along with another big raise to convince him to stay).

I don’t understand why people are so butt hurt over the fact that Chip wants to build the team up the way he’s used to having so much success in. He went 10-6 in two seasons after going 4-12 before he got to Philly. That’s with having four different qb’s start at one point. At the very least, give him a chance. Chip wants to win just like every other fan does. Let him do it the way he’s used to. Chip is like Bill Bellicheck to me. Many people respect him and others hate him. If Chip starts winning, I’m ok with the haters

Full disclosure: Eagles fan since early 80’s. Most new coaches blow it up the second they walk in the door. I give Chip credit for going two seasons with what was essentially Andy’s team. Result: pretty darn good, but not good enough. So? BOOM goes the dynamite.
Will it work? I dunno, but tweaking the roster yet again probably wasn’t going to get it done (yet again). Face it, every team except the Patriots blows it up sooner or later. Might as well do it now while the rest of the NFC East isn’t dominant.

FWIW, I think the Chipper is safe for another couple seasons at least. Lurie is a good owner; he brought Kelly in to win a Superbowl. He’s going to give him plenty of time/rope to do it his way.Lurie trusts Chip, and he writes the checks. In the end, his opinion is the only one that matters.

To win in the NFL, you need Luck, Talent & Scheme. In that Order. This Idea that you can get rid of your best Talent and Replace it with anybody does not work.
If it did, Great Coaches like Belichick would not have paid top dollar for Players like Brady, Gronk and Revis.
Only reason chip Kelly is Getting any benefit of Doubt is because of the Unknown. What We do know is this Man has never won a Major Trophy so Really Lurie is acting completely reckless to let this man Control anything!